The Skinny: Isles 4, Seattle 0

"The Skinny"      

By Eric Hornick

Game 54

Isles 4, Seattle 0

Bo Horvat scored a career-high 32nd goal in his home debut for the final margin and Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves for his second consecutive shutout as the Islanders blanked the Seattle Kraken 4-0 before a sellout crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena. 

The Isles grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period as Samuel Bolduc scored his 1st NHL goal and Simon Holmstrom added his third; Zach Parise and Horvat scored 90 seconds apart in the second period to stretch the lead to 4-0. 

The Isles have won four straight games for the first time since Thanksgiving Week to improve to 27-22-5 and remain tied with Pittsburgh for the 2nd Wild Card spot; the Penguins have played four fewer games. The Islanders can pass both Pittsburgh and Washington with a home-ice win against the Canucks on Thursday. 

The Scoring:

1st Period

Samuel Bolduc (1) Scott Mayfield (8), Brock Nelson (29) 07:59 SEA 0,NYI 1

Simon Holmstrom (3) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (18) 18:29 SEA 0,NYI 2

2nd Period

Zach Parise (14) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (19), Adam Pelech (10) 03:38 SEA 0,NYI 3

Bo Horvat (32) Mathew Barzal (32) 05:08 SEA 0,NYI 4

3rd Period

No Goals 

The Skinny   

Samuel Bolduc is the second Islander whose first NHL goal turned out to be the game-winner; Simon Holmstrom did so in Vegas in December… Brock Nelson extended his point streak to a career-high eight games; it is the longest point streak by an Islander since Mathew Barzal had a 9-game streak in December 2021-January 2022…It was Nelson's 29th assist of the season, setting a new career high…The Isles went 0-1 on the power play.  They are 1-29 in their last twelve games and are 4-68 in the last 25 games …The Isles killed the only Kraken power play; they have killed 32 of their last 35 overall and their top-ranked home PK is 63-69 (91.3%) on the season ...The Isles scored the first goal for the tenth time in the last twelve games … The Isles have scored 25 goals in the last thirteen games (5-5-3); 14 of those goals have been scored in the first period…The Isles have been outscored 12-1 in their last fifteen third periods… The Isles' third period differential remains +2; the Isles were +16 in the third period through 23 games but are -14 over the last 31 games…Scott set-up the winning goal; he became the 26th defenseman in club history to reach 100 points… Both Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock played in their 400th game; they are the 51st and 52nd Islanders to play in 400 games…Mayfield and Pulock are the only Islander defenseman to play every game this season.

The Injury

Andre Burakovsky played only 21 seconds before leaving the game with a non-contact lower body injury; he did not return.

The Shutout Streak

Ilya Sorokin has stopped 61 consecutive shots in his 132:16 shutout streak.  It is the longest active streak in the NHL and the 5th-longest this season (Antti Raanta - 163:54). This is the sixth time this season Sorokin has had a shutout streak of at least 90 minutes, four time he has gone at least 100 minutes and the second time he has gone at least 120 minutes.   Sorokin has had two longer streaks in his career (146:54 last season and 143:08 in 2020-21); if he reaches 140 minutes, he will join Rick DiPietro as the only goalies in club history with three streaks of that length.

A Small Club

Ilya Sorokin now has 15 shutouts in his first 113 games; Tony Esposito (22) is the only goalie in the Expansion Era with at least that many.

An Even Smaller Club

Ilya Sorokin is the only goaltender in Islander history to record consecutive shutouts on three separate occasions.  A goaltender has recorded consecutive shutouts only 14 times in club history, with five of those occurring in the last three seasons.

Chasing 50

Bo Horvat has 32 goals in 51 games this season. No Islander has had at least 32 games through the team's 54th game since Pierre Turgeon had 34 in 1992-93.  (If Horvat plays every game the remainder of the season he would appear in 79 games.)

Last Year vs. This Year

• 2022-23  27-22-5 for 59 points in 54 games

• 2021-22  22-24-8 for 52 points in 54 games; finished 37-35-10 for 84 points.

Offense from Defense

• Today:  1-2-3

• Season: 28-75-103

• Last Season (Final) 32-128-160

The Islander defense have scored 28 goals; they didn't score their 28th goal last season until April 23rd.  Bolduc's goal was the first by an Isles defenseman since January 16th (Sebastian Aho vs. Washington).

Sorokin's House

Ilya Sorokin is 24-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena. His goals against average of 1.98 and his save percentage of .934 are the best in the NHL over that span, while his shutouts match Igor Shesterkin for the most on home-ice. Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 33-14-6 in his career at home and his .931 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 50 home games).

Best of the Best

Ilya Sorokin has 15 shutouts in 110 career starts.  He has recorded a shutout in 13.6% of his starts, which is the best in NHL history (since 1943-44) among goalies with at least 100 starts:

• Ilya Sorokin 13.6%

• Roman Cechmanek 12.2%

• Ken Dryden 11.8%

• Dominik Hasek 11.3%

Zach Attack 

Zach Parise scored his 422nd career goal, good for 9th among actives, and tying Owen Nolan for 85th place; Steve Shutt is 84th with 424 goals.

Home and Road

The Isles are 27-22-5 overall; they are 16-9-2 at home and 11-13-3 on the road.

Seattle is 29-16-5 overall; they are 13-10-3 at home and 16-6-2 on the road.

East and West

The Isles are 15-12-3 against the East (10-5-1 vs. Metropolitan and 5-7-2 vs. Atlantic) and 12-10-2 against the West (4-7-2 vs. Central and 8-3-0 vs. Pacific).

Home is Where the Fans Are

The Isles have played 68 games at UBS Arena and recorded 47 sellouts of 17,255. 

Sweet Lou

Lou Lamoriello has the second-highest win total for any general manager in NHL history:

1. David Poile 1,515

2. Lou Lamoriello 1,390

3. Glen Sather 1,319

First Things First

The Isles are 19-7-2 when scoring first and are 8-15-3 when allowing the opening goal. 

The Shots

Isles  9-11-8=28

Seattle 8-13-11=32

The Isles are 14-9-1 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-0-0 when the shots are even and 12-13-4 when they are outshot. 

In the Nets

Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves; he is 17-16-4 on the season and 2-1-0 vs Seattle. 

Martin Jones made 24 saves; he is 23-8-3 on the season and 4-5-0 vs. the Isles.  

Special Teams

The Isles were 0-1 on the power play (2:00); Seattle was 0-1 on the power play (2:00).

The Isles are 12-8-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 15-14-4 when they do not. The Isles are 11-10-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 16-12-4 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 22-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 5-17-3 when they do not.

One-Goal Games

The Isles are 10-4-5 in games decided by a single goal including 6-4 in regulation. They are 4-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 4-7 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1-goal game into a 2-goal game.

Back-to-Backs   

The next set of back-to-backs will be on February 17th vs Pittsburgh and on February 18th in Boston. Including tonight, the Isles are 6-5-0 in the front end and 7-3-1 in the back end. 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Scott Mayfield (21:16);  Seattle: Vince Dunn (23:17)

Mathew Barzal led Isles forwards with 17:05 of ice-time. 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Alexander Romanov (2-1-1), Noah Dobson (4-10-2), Adam Pelech (5-2-0), Ryan Pulock (5-5-0), Scott Mayfield (7-1-2), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Mathew Barzal (2-1-0), Sebastian Aho (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0).

Face-offs

Isles 33, Seattle 18 (65%)

Bo Horvat won 11 of 15 for the Isles; no Kraken who took more than two draws won more than he lost.

Hit Count

Isles 25 (Anders Lee -5)

Seattle 31 (Three with 4)

Fights 

None. Season total: 14 (Martin-6, Lee-2, Wahlstrom-2, Johnston-2, Cizikas, Romanov)

 

Blocked Shots

Isles 17 (Samuel Bolduc -3)

Seattle 13 (Two with 3)

For the Analytics Crowd 

Corsi: All situations: Isles 50, Seattle 62

Corsi: 5-on-5: Isles 47, Seattle 56

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles:  Kyle Palmieri +5

Seattle:  Yanni Gourde +9

High Danger Scoring Chances (per Natural Stat Trick)

All situations: Isles 16, Seattle 7

5-on-5: Isles 14, Seattle 4

Scratches

Oliver Wahlstrom-IR), (Cal Clutterbuck – IR), Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon, Alexander Romanov - personal

Games Lost: 117

The Ironman

Zach Parise played in his 136th consecutive Islander game; he has played in every game since joining the team in October 2021. It is the 20th-longest active streak in the NHL. 

Challenges

Isles: 1 successful, 0 failures – STL goalie interference 11/3

Opponents: 1 successful, 0 failures – PIT offside 12/27

League reviews: 4 (Isles goal – Salo vs ANA 10/16 – stood; Isles no goal vs NSH 12/2-stood; Isles goal- Martin vs CHI 12/4-awarded; MIN goal (Gaudreau) 1/12 – awarded)

Quickies

The Isles have scored two goals in under a minute six times this season (five times at home and once on road):

• 0:17 10/29 vs. COL (Mayfield and Beauvillier)

• 0:59 11/7 vs. CGY (Lee and Palmieri)

• 0:22 11/26 vs PHI (Nelson and Beauvillier)

• 0:43 12/4 vs CHI (Parise and Nelson)

• 0:21 12/6 vs STL (Fasching and Pageau)

• 0:34 12/9 @ NJD (Cizikas and Wahlstrom)

Multi-Goal 3rd Period Comeback Wins

The Isles have come from two goals behind after two periods to win three times this season and have not allowed the opposition to do so.

For: Trailed 3-1, Won 5-3 vs. COL 10/29

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 (OT) vs CGY 11/7

Trailed 3-1, Won 4-3 at NYR 11/8

Last Minute Heroes:

The Isles have scored two goal and allowed one goal in the final three minutes of the third period that were either the winning goal or forced overtime. 

For(2): Brock Nelson vs COL 10/29 (18:39;EN/GW)

Josh Bailey @ TOR 11/21 (17:02; Isles won in OT)

Vs (1): Kappo Kaako @NYR  12/22 (17:13: GW)

Overtime Winners

For (4): Noah Dobson vs CGY 11/7 (4:02)

Zach Parise vs CBJ 11/12 (0:39) 

Anthony Beauvillier @ TOR 11/21 (1:56)

Mathew Barzal vs VEG 1/28 (4:28)

Vs. (2): Dimitry Orlov Vs WAS 1/16 (4:27)

Dylan Cozens @ BUF 1/19 (0:12)

Shootout Winners

Vs (3):  David Pastrnak @ BOS 12/13

Evan Rodrigues @ COL 12/19

Jason Robertson Vs DAL 1/10

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)

1. Bryan Trottier 1,123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1,060 *** 3. Josh Bailey 1,043…

7. Mike Bossy 752 *** 8. Matt Martin 738 *** 9. Brock Nelson 730 *** 10. Casey Cizikas 717… 

13. John Tavares 669 *** 14. Anders Lee 650 *** 15. Derek King 638 *** 16. Billy Harris 623 *** 17. Stefan Persson 622 *** 18. Cal Clutterbuck 621

Goals    

1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 …

9. Bobby Nystrom 235 *** 10. Anders Lee 231 *** 11. Brock Nelson 224 *** 12. Derek King 211 *** 13. John Tonelli 206  *** 14 Billy Harris 184 *** 15. Josh Bailey 182

Assists

1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 *** 4. Josh Bailey 393…

15. Billy Harris 259 *** 16. Mathew Barzal 252 *** 17. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 18. Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo 230 *** 20. Brock Nelson 211…

23. Ed Westfall 181 *** 24. Kenny Jonsson 175 *** 25. Alexei Yashin and Duane Sutter 171 *** 27. Anders Lee 170

Points

1. Bryan Trottier 1,353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1,126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1,052…

6.  Brent Sutter 610 *** 7. Josh Bailey 575  …

14. Billy Harris 443 *** 15. Brock Nelson 435 ***  16. Anders Lee 401 *** 17. Kyle Okposo and Stefan Persson 369…19. Mathew Barzal 356

+/-

1. Bryan Trottier +467 *** 2. Denis Potvin +456 *** 3. Mike Bossy +380…

15. Bob Lorimer +105 *** 16. Tomas Jonsson +76 *** 17. Garry Howatt +75 *** 18. Adam Pelech +73 *** 19. Pat Price +70 *** 20. JP Parise +67 *** 21. Jude Drouin +58 *** 22. Patrick Flatley +57 *** 23. Greg Gilbert +54

Defense Goals

1. Denis Potvin 310 *** 2. Tomas Jonsson 84 *** Kenny Jonsson 57…

6. Nick Leddy 45 *** 7. Roman Hamrlik 43 **** 8. Mark Streit and Ryan Pulock 40 *** 10. Johnny Boychuk *** 11. Adrian Aucoin 33 *** 12. Bryan Berard 31***13. Vladimir Malakhov and Noah Dobson 27

Defense Assists

1. Denis Potvin 742 *** 2. Stefan Persson 317 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 249…

8. Mark Streit 139 *** 9. Roman Hamrlik 120 *** 10. Ryan Pulock 121…

18. Dave Langevin and Thomas Hickey 95 *** 20. Adam Pelech 94

Defense Points

1. Denis Potvin 1,052 *** 2. Stefan Persson 369 *** 3. Tomas Jonsson 333…

8. Mark Streit 179 *** 9. Ryan Pulock 161…

17. Vladimir Malakhov 125 *** 18. Thomas Hickey 117 *** 19. Adam Pelech 116...

23. Scott Lachance and Ken Morrow 105 *** 25. Noah Dobson and Scott Mayfield 100

Wins

1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130…

8. Glenn Healy 66 *** 9. Tommy Salo 62 *** 10. Semyon Varlamov 58 *** 11. Evgeni Nabokov 57 *** 12. Ilya Sorokin 56

Shutouts

1. Glenn Resch 25 *** 2. Billy Smith 22 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 16 …

4. Ilya Sorokin 15 *** 5. Tommy Salo 14 *** 6. Semyon Varlamov and Jaroslav Halak 12 

On the Farm

Bridgeport spent the AHL-Star Break with a 19-18-7-1 record.  They are one point behind Hartford for the final playoff spot and are even in games with the Wolf Pack.

Andy Andreoff leads the team (and is tied-8th in the AHL) with 20 goals, while Chis Terry continues to lead in assists (30) and points (44). William Dufour has 15 goals and is tied-4th among AHL rookies while All-Star Ruslan Ishakov is tied-2nd among AHL rookies with 22 assists.

The Baby Islanders have only seven games remaining in February; they visit Lehigh Valley Saturday in their only game until February 17th.

Season Series Stats

The teams split the season series, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2).   

Overall, the Isles are 2-2-0 in four all-time meetings with Seattle, with each team going 1-1-0 at home and 1-1-0 on the road. 

UP NEXT

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9th  –VANCOUVER AT ISLANDERS 7:30pm

[MSGSN (Pre-game at 7:00), WRHU 88.7 FM, WRCN 103.9FM, ESPN Radio]

The Islanders welcome Anthony Beauvillier back to UBS Arena and look to extend their winning streak to five games on Thursday night as they entertain the Vancouver Canucks.

The Isles beat Vancouver 6-2 on January 3rd; Bo Horvat had both Canuck goals in that game. The Isles are 8-1-4 in their last 13 games against the Canucks, with their only regulation defeat coming at UBS Arena last March 3rd.  

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick